Suckered

by Gina LaManna

  “I wasn’t wondering that,” I said quickly, my cheeks pink.

  Meg raised her hand. “I was wondering that. No offense, but you’re a little suspicious. And you’re too pretty to be innocent.”

  Alessandra took the bittersweet compliment in stride. “You’re looking in the wrong place,” she said. “It’s not me who you should be following.”

  “Do you know something about…this?” I gestured toward the glass case, most of it shattered on the ground. It looked similar to the crime scene at the last showroom. “Why are you here?”

  Alessandra hesitated. Then she offered a weak smile. “I’m looking for someone.”

  Before I could ask more, she clicked out of the room. She waved to the officers as she left, and more than one of them stopped to stare as she clicked on out.

  “What a nut,” Meg said. “I wonder what she really wants?”

  I shook my head. “Wish I knew.”

  Then Arnold burped, and blue gel squirted all over the floor.

  Meg eyeballed it with heavy skepticism. “We should probably get out of here now, huh?”

  “Probably.”

  Chapter 21

  Since I hadn’t escaped unscathed from Arnold’s attack, Meg and I headed back to the apartment so I could change. As a bonus, this would give us a chance to regroup with Clay on any information he’d found, and it’d give me a chance to call Anthony. There was even the potential to rope Nora into spa day—round two—with Arnold.

  “Are all babies this sticky?” I pulled Arnold away from where he’d been cradled to my chest. A squelching sound followed as the gooey plastic of his face left my skin. “How do moms stay clean?”

  “Maybe they don’t,” Meg said. “The way Arnold projects things everywhere I don’t see how staying clean is possible.”

  “I don’t know if I’m cut out for this parenting lifestyle.”

  “Me neither,” Meg said as we approached our apartment. She stopped walking, gave a dreamy sigh, and tilted her chin toward someone in the crowd. “But I bet he’d be great at dad-hood. Kids just love magic tricks.”

  I groaned before I even caught sight of Beckett. Mr. Magic was back in action on the street.

  Meg looped her arm through mine and guided us into front row seats for the show. She whistled, hooted, and hollered when he smiled in her direction.

  “Now that we’re all here, we can get started.” He gave a wink subtle enough that I wasn’t sure if it’d actually happened. I rolled my eyes anyway. “I need one volunteer—how about you, ma’am? Yes, you, with the baby.”

  I protested loudly, but the crowd had grown—ten to twenty people were crammed into the little piazza, and the surge of bodies pressed me forward. I thrust Arnold into Meg’s arms and stumbled next to the table.

  “Wave to the crowd,” Beckett said. “Smile, please.”

  I did as he said. The crowd waved back.

  “This is all fine and dandy,” I said through the side of my mouth. “But what are you doing? I thought you’d be long gone.”

  “Why would I go anywhere?” He leaned close, putting a stack of cards in my hand as he whispered in my ear, “I didn’t do anything. I have an alibi, remember?”

  “You have an alibi?” I played dumb, my eyes widening. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I had a dream that some crazy person broke into my apartment last night. He told me I could thank him later, and then he left. But surely that didn’t actually happen in real life…because that’s nuts.”

  “I was hoping you’d say that last night was magic.” Raising his voice, he looked at the crowd. “Everyone, meet my assistant—Lacey! She’s a mom of one, engaged to be married, and a partner of mine.”

  “We’re not partners—” I said, but I was drowned out by someone yelling, “Kiss her!”

  More hoots and hollers followed. Meg joined in too, and I glared at her.

  Beckett grinned that charming smile of his. “Unfortunately, she’s only my partner in business. She has a lovely fiancé.” Then he looked at me, still speaking for the crowd. “Though if you changed your mind, darling, I wouldn’t complain.”

  I rolled my eyes so hard I couldn’t see straight for a few seconds. During my temporary blindness, Beckett moved so quickly beside me I didn’t have time to jump away.

  “Do you believe me yet?” he whispered against my ear. “I am here to help you.”

  “Then explain,” I said through gritted teeth.

  He clapped handcuffs around my wrists. “Don’t get any ideas, this is for a trick, ladies,” he said loudly, as part of the show. Then he lowered his voice and spoke only for me. “Say you believe me.”

  “I believe you’re trying to help,” I said. “Now let me go.”

  Beckett cinched the handcuffs tighter. “I’d appreciate you playing along with this trick.”

  “Will you explain?”

  “Sooner or later,” he said, turning to face the audience. A few fast fingers later, and he’d somehow released me from the handcuffs without a key and added a flashy routine to boot. The women in the crowd applauded extra loud. One of them shouted, asking if Mr. Magic was single.

  “Well, yes, I am, ladies.” He smiled. “Thanks for asking.”

  Meg fanned her face. “Oh, good gracious me.”

  “You have a boyfriend,” I reminded her.

  “Yes, I know, but that doesn’t mean I’m not feeling excited for all the single ladies out there,” Meg said. “Grab him while he’s hot, girls!”

  “Pick a card, any card, Lacey,” Beckett said, his eyes holding my gaze hostage. “Don’t tell me what it is.”

  I hesitated.

  “Just pick a card.”

  It seemed easier to play along, so I pulled a card from the deck. Seven of spades.

  I slid it back, watching as he shuffled through his trick. “Is this your card?” He gave me a knowing stare. “The queen of diamonds.”

  I almost said no, almost squealed with delight that he’d gotten it wrong. Then I looked into his eyes and realized that he hadn’t gotten it wrong at all. He knew exactly what he was doing, and the way he lingered on the words queen of diamonds had me wondering what was on that card…

  “Yes, that’s it,” I agreed. “How did you know?”

  “Magic.” He handed over the card. “You’ll find my autograph on the back.”

  I opened my mouth to reply, but he was already onto the next phase of his show, calling up another assistant from the crowd.

  I grabbed Meg, and together we slunk away from the front line. She dragged Arnold behind her, carrying him upside down. I didn’t notice until it was too late, realizing that the upside down baby was probably why we’d received so many funny looks.

  “Lemme see his signature,” Meg said. “I’m a famous babe these days, and I want to have a cool autograph.”

  “You can’t copy someone’s autograph.” I pulled out the card. “He has a different name than you.”

  Meg leaned over my shoulder and read the message scrawled across the queen of diamonds. “Now what does that mean?”

  In bold, black letters, the words Watch Behind You seemed to jump from the plastic. “I don’t know.”

  “Maybe he’s just telling us to look back?” Meg said.

  She turned around, and since I couldn’t fault her logic, I turned around too.

  The magic show we’d just left continued in the distance, but other than that we were alone. “I don’t know; it sounds more like a warning.”

  “It sounds to me like he’s telling us to watch behind us. Maybe we should walk backward? Unless you’ve got those eyes in the back of your head. I think Carlos has them.”

  I re-read the card, flipped it over, looked for a secret message. Nothing.

  “Have you developed them yet?” Meg asked.

  “Eyes in the back of my head? No, why?”

  “It’s usually a mom thing. One of the talents when you have kids, I think.” Meg lifted up Arnold by the foot, his head flop
ping around. “You’ve had a kid for a full day now, so I figured maybe they popped up.”

  I grabbed Arnold back. “He’s not real, and he’s not even mine. He belongs to the girls’ school.”

  Meg crossed her arms. “Whatever. Where are we going, anyway?”

  I patted Arnold’s head. “Home, why?”

  “Isn’t it that way?” Meg pointed in the opposite direction.

  In my haste to save Arnold from a concussion, I’d taken a wrong turn and led us down a quieter street behind our apartment complex. The sounds from the rambunctious magic show had faded to a dull murmur, the alley winding between apartment complexes eerily quiet.

  “You’re right! Sorry, I was distracted by—” I stopped talking abruptly.

  A figure slipped around the corner—fast, too fast for me to say anything.

  Then, he lunged for Meg. I screamed her name, getting halfway through before the attacker shoved her against the wall. Her head clunked against the bricks, the sound making my stomach sink. She slumped to the ground and didn’t move.

  I ran to her, keeping an eye on him as the man rushed straight at me. He leapt over her fallen body and landed between me and Meg, blocking my path. It was a man, the stubble on his chin told me so. He had a hat pulled so low over his eyes I could hardly see his nose. What I could see of him—all black jeans, black turtleneck—was a blur.

  “Let her go,” I said, my breaths raspy. “What do you want? Take it, anything!”

  I dug through my pockets and pulled out the little bit of shiny money I had left. I threw it at him, along with the flimsy little wallet that contained the rest of my things. Luckily, my passport was upstairs in the apartment, and the queen of diamonds card was in my pocket. For now, they were safe.

  The attacker growled something in Italian. I shook my head in confusion. “I don’t speak Italian.” This didn’t seem to help, so I began shouting a cocktail of words in every language I could think of. I blended high school Spanish, Nora’s Italian phrases, and a bit of French that I’d picked up at a bakery back home.

  I dipped and dashed as he came for me, finally pausing as I tried to recall the self-defense lessons we’d practiced yesterday. However, all I could remember was Meg high kicking up and down the hallway while I showed Angelica how to use the pepper spray.

  I didn’t have pepper spray, so I went with the high kicks.

  As luck would have it, he bent over far enough that my high kick—which was by no means impressive—crashed into his nose.

  Blood spurted to the ground. I dodged around him as he threw a hand over his face.

  “Meg!” I reached her side and collapsed to the ground, sliding Arnold under her head like a pillow. “Wake up!”

  I shook her, but she still didn’t move. I tried to listen for breathing, but the crazy attacker came back at me, and I stopped, dropped, and rolled, like it was a fire drill. It worked. I steam-rolled right at him, taking his legs out from underneath his body. He fell hard, landing with a huff.

  Unfortunately, he landed on Meg.

  Double unfortunately, she still didn’t move.

  Meg’s body worked like a trampoline, and my attacker bounced back. He flew at me, his arms spread wide, catapulting his body across the alley. We went down in a tumble together, rolling over the hard cement.

  My eyes watered as my elbows scraped the ground and my legs dragged over the rough cement.

  “You psycho person!” I shouted, my fear finally getting buried behind anger. “I gave you my money! What else do you want?”

  I threw a punch, completely missed, and spun in a circle. My lack of aim, however, turned out to be good luck because I inadvertently dodged a punch from him that would’ve taken my jaw off.

  “Take my baby if you want!” I said.

  “Is not real,” the attacker said.

  “Of course he’s not,” I said, coming up with an idea on the spot. “I keep all my priceless gems hidden inside him, duh,” I said, facing him with my fists up and feeling a lot like Rocky. I hadn’t seen the movie, but I could improvise. “That’s what you’re after, right?”

  His eyes fluttered toward Arnold. Really, I just wanted the attacker to go for the baby so I could get a shot at him. Unfortunately, he didn’t fall for it.

  “Where?” he asked.

  “You’ll have to find out,” I said. “Now take the baby and get away from us.”

  The attacker took a step toward Arnold. I used the moment to strike, running toward him. I took a flying leap onto his back, slid my hands around his neck, and pulled tight.

  He choked, coughing. Then his cheeks puffed out like a blowfish, and he spun in a circle. Disturbing noises gurgled in his throat.

  I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t hold on for longer. I let go, shoving him hard against the wall as he gasped for air.

  “Get out of here,” I said. “Now.”

  The attacker stumbled backward. His hands clutched at his throat, his eyes bulging. I rushed toward Meg, watching him stumble away from us.

  “Meg!” I shouted. “Answer me. Wake up!”

  I took my eyes off the attacker for one second while I listened to Meg’s breathing. It was one second too long. He came at me with renewed force and this time, I wasn’t so lucky. When I crashed to the ground, my head cracked against the cement. Stars burst before my eyes. Something in my wrist bent the wrong way, and I almost bit my tongue in two.

  The stranger stood over me, his fist poised to strike, blood and spit on his upper lip.

  I closed my eyes, too dizzy to move. I blinked, watching a blur as his fist hurtled toward my face, praying that the unconsciousness would come quickly.

  Instead, a gigantic burp sounded, and I felt a spray of wet, sticky goo cover my body. A loud thunk sent an echo skittering through the alleyway.

  “Don’t you dare threaten my friend,” Meg said, hauling herself to her feet. “Get out of here, you dumb old jerk. Stop bullying people bigger than you. Pick on someone your own size.”

  I didn’t bother to correct Meg and mention that, maybe, this dumb old jerk should just not pick on anybody at all. Opening my eyes, I quickly scanned my body for blood. Some splotches here and there, but nothing serious. More alarming was the gel. Loads and loads of blue gel, everywhere.

  Apparently Meg had used Baby Arnold like a weapon, clunking the attacker over the head. Arnold must have had some real weight to him because her plan had worked. The attacker slunk to the far side of the street.

  Meg prowled toward him, her hair matted with blood. She looked like a monster, and the man started mumbling something that sounded like don’t eat me. Then again, I was dizzy, and I wasn’t sure which language he was speaking.

  “Maybe Mr. Magic meant that card for you,” Meg said to me, as she stalked toward the attacker. “If we’d been watching behind us, maybe he wouldn’t have tackled me. I just wasn’t ready for him is all.”

  “Meg!” I shouted as the attacker reached for something at his waist that looked shiny and ugly. “Look out!”

  “Put that away.” A new, steady voice spoke from the sidewalk behind us. “Or I’ll shoot.”

  I recognized the voice first, and then the shadow a second later. The mugger took one look at our new friend, and took off down the street in the opposite direction.

  “Beckett?” I squinted. “What are you doing here?”

  “Proving my friendship to you.” He took a few steps toward me, extended a hand, and pulled me to my feet. “You are really hard to convince. I’m just trying to help. Are you both okay?”

  My head pounded and my skin stung, but I muttered a grudging thank you and brushed off my knees.

  “Dumb-ass old mugger,” Meg said, shaking her head. “I really didn’t want to use the baby against him, but the dude gave me no choice. And now my head hurts and I’m hungry. We need some lunch around here.”

  I winced. “He has my wallet.”

  “Actually…” Mr. Magic pulled my wallet from his pocket and wiggled it. Then
he gave a crooked smile. “Magic.”

  I gave him my best impression of Carlos’s death stare. It must’ve worked because his smile disappeared and he handed my wallet back. “It wasn’t magic, your attacker tossed it into the dumpster when he ran away. You were occupied smashing your head against the ground.”

  “Thanks,” I said, thumbing through. Save for some of the sparkly bills fluttering over the ground like napkins, everything was intact. “But I don’t trust you yet. What was that queen of diamonds all about? How did you know?”

  “Oh, you dropped that too.” He mysteriously pulled the card from his back pocket.

  I clapped a hand over my pocket. Somehow, the card had vanished.

  “Here.” He offered it over, and I took it.

  “He’s good,” Meg whispered to me, before raising her voice. “So, what sort of gun do you have?”

  “I don’t carry a gun,” he said.

  “Then how the heck were you planning to shoot someone?” Meg glanced cryptically at his pants.

  To my surprise, Beckett’s face reddened. “I was bluffing. I wasn’t going to shoot anyone. I’m not a violent person.”

  “Dang, I bet you’re good at poker,” Meg said. “That was a great bluff. I’d play you, but I value my money.”

  “I’m okay,” he admitted. “I have a way with cards.”

  “A way with cards…” I raised an eyebrow. “Right. So, how did you know there was anything to warn me about? Pretty coincidental if you ask me.”

  “I don’t believe in coincidences.”

  “Me neither.”

  “I believe in observations.” Beckett tilted his head, considering me for a long moment. “If one is perceptive enough, it’s almost as if they can read the future…”

  “Like me,” Meg said. “Meg the psychic. I’m famous for it, actually. I should probably start signing autographs for that, too.”

  “Walk me through your process for reading the future,” I said to Beckett. “And maybe I’ll believe you.”

  “Now you’re asking the right questions.” He smiled, leaning against the wall. His dark hair and blue eyes were reminiscent of a movie star—a heist movie, of course—and if I didn’t constantly remind myself that he might be dangerous, I might’ve let my guard down.